Avaya Stadium
| seating_capacity = 18,000 | dimensions = 105 by 68 metres (114.8 × 74.4 yd) | record_attendance = 18,000 |}} Avaya Stadium is an 18,000 seat stadium, located in San Jose, California. It is the permanent home of the San Jose Earthquakes, who funded all of the estimated $110 million construction cost. The team moved in soon after construction was completed in 2015, leaving behind their previous home of Buck Shaw Stadium, a mile to the west. Stadium History Soccer in San Jose had been seeking a home of its own since the creation of the original Earthquakes in 1974. That team played in Spartan Stadium, owned by San Jose State University, from its founding until the team's demise in 1988. In 1996, Major League Soccer was born, and the Quakes returned in the guise of the San Jose Clash for three years (1996-99). Once under local ownership, the Quakes started talks with San Jose State about construction of a new stadium adjacent to Spartan Stadium, to host both the Quakes and the university's American football team. Both those plans collapsed because of disagreements of cost and revenue sharing. The Quakes then started a search for another site, and finally settled on the site of an abandoned armaments factory near the airport. In 2010, approval of both the sale of the land, and the planning commission, were granted for construction at the site. The Quakes held a demolition ceremony on March 3, 2011, to formally start a 12-week demolition process, removing all remnants of the armaments factory that existed on the site previously. Construction was scheduled to begin in early 2013, but preliminary foundation work discovered three previously unknown concrete bunkers and a number of concrete pilings, that had not been divulged by the previous owners. Due to these items, the stadium's opening was pushed back from early 2014 to early 2015. Stadium Design Soccer-specific stadiums are the exception, rather than the rule, in the US and Canada. Every previous home for the Quakes had been designed for American Football, with a correspondingly slimmer field. The Earthquakes also surveyed their fans on what they desired in the new home. What was most often mentioned was proximity to the pitch, and a steep rake to the seating, both of which would bring the fans closer to the action. Wide, shallow bowls such as Rose Bowl and Stanford Stadium were specifically mentioned as designs to avoid. The final design had seating on three sides, with the luxury suites at ground level. Above was a single tier, tilted at a 30° angle. The seating was limited to 18,000 by the city fire marshal, with a possibility of that decision being reviewed in the future with an eye on increasing the restriction. At the closed end of the seating, on the lower (suite) level, a "safe standing" section was created for the Ultras supporter group. At the open end, beneath the two-sided 4K display board, is the LOBINA (Largest Outdoor Bar In North America). The bar is two-sided, more than 310 feet (94 meters) long, and serves more than a hundred different beers and other spirits. Patrons of the bar can watch the action from less than 10 feet (three meters) behind the north goal. The scoreboard itself shows identical displays on both sides, so that fans outside the stadium to the north can follow the action, too. The Quakes have also hosted free viewing parties in this area, for TV broadcasts of important matches elsewhere. External Links *Official site Category:San Jose Earthquakes Category:Stadiums Category:American stadiums Category:Major League Soccer stadiums